|
New Graduate Housing Complex Opens Doors
Ioana Patringenaru | July 16, 2007
 |
| A detail of the new One MIramar Street graduate student housing complex. |
|
Hundreds of students have begun moving into the first new graduate housing complex to open its doors on campus since 1994. One Miramar Street comprises 403 two-bedroom units and one parking spot for each resident. The new complex will dramatically cut back single graduate students’ wait time for on-campus housing, said Mark Cunningham, director of Housing and Dining Services.
“It’s unprecedented,” Cunningham said. “There’s nothing like it.”
Up until now, single graduate students trying to get into the Mesa and Coast housing complexes faced an average three-year wait. A spot in the on-campus single graduate housing facilities required an eight- to 12-month wait, said Rebecca Otten, a manager in the housing department.
 |
| A model unit. |
|
In the future, the One Miramar complex also will allow UCSD to offer a housing guarantee for graduate students, which will help the campus compete with other universities and recruit the best and brightest, Cunningham said.
The $78-million complex is located behind the Mesa residential apartments. The two-bedroom units are about 700 square feet. They include one bathroom divided in two areas: a shower and a sink and a sink and a toilet. Rent runs about $1100 to $1200 a month, including water, trash and gas.
Students had snapped up 331 units in the new complex by June 25, Otten said. Most were moving out of off-campus rentals. Sonja Schwake, a graduate student in anthropology, was one of them. On a recent Monday morning, she stood in the empty two bedroom she will soon share with a roommate. Movers brought up furniture from her previous apartment. “I’m excited about it,” she said when asked about her move. She was way down on the graduate student waiting list, she explained. She lived in Hillcrest and doesn’t own a car, so getting to campus will become a whole lot easier, she added. She also said she now will be able to get to her lab whenever she wants, including weekends.
Housing and Dining Services officials were able to make their way through the whole waiting list for single graduate students, Otten said. Some declined, so the department made offers to married graduate students who don’t have children. In all, 222 apartments became available for move-in on June 23. The rest will be ready for move-in by July 28.
Site construction should be completed by July 14, Cunningham said. A large green lawn will then cover the center of the complex. The Graduate Student Association and Housing and Dining Services have partnered to open a student-run café right below the complex’s administrative office in September. “It’s very unique,” Cunningham said. |
